Deloitte: Restaurant AI Investments Heat Up, But Adoption Still Appears to be on the Back Burner

Survey indicates restaurants leverage AI technology to enhance customer experiences and improve operations from the dining room to the kitchen and drive-thru, yet risks and challenges remain

NEW YORK, June 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Key takeaways

• Eight in 10 (82%) restaurant executives surveyed plan to increase investments in AI technologies in the next fiscal year, and hope to see benefits for improved customer experience (60%), restaurant operations (36%), and loyalty programs (31%).
• AI investments in customer experience are generating impact with 52% of brands and 84% of operators surveyed currently seeing high customer experience impact. 
• Among those surveyed, identifying the right use cases (48%) and managing risks (48%) are the top two factors holding back restaurant leaders from deploying AI.
• Across all brands surveyed, less than half of respondents say their organizations are ready for AI adoption when it comes to strategy (43%), technology infrastructure (39%), operations (34%), risk and governance (28%), and talent (27%).

Why this matters
With customer expectations evolving, some restaurant leaders are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to create new opportunities for growth across their operations. In its new report, "How AI is Revolutionizing Restaurants," Deloitte examines AI adoption, what is driving value, perceived challenges, and organizational readiness to scale AI effectively. The report reveals that AI investment and adoption differs across the industry as organizations seek to balance experimentation with operational focus, customer-facing innovation with back-of-house transformation, and high ambitions with organizational readiness.

AI investment focuses on the customer
AI has captured the interest and imagination of many business leaders worldwide, and restaurant executives are no exception. Deloitte found respondents indicated plans for AI investments, along with hopes for what such investments can help them achieve.

• When asked how they expect their organization's investment in AI technologies to change in the next fiscal year, 82% of respondents say their AI investment is likely to increase while only 2% expect a decrease.
• Sixty percent of respondents cited enhanced customer experience as one of the top three benefits they hope to achieve through AI efforts, followed by improved restaurant operations (36%) and enhanced loyalty programs (31%).
• A smaller but significant portion of those surveyed hope AI will strengthen their digital marketing efforts (26%), optimize food prep and waste management (25%), enhance crew experiences (21%), and help them develop new products and concepts (20%).
• Benefit expectations vary by restaurant type: For example, respondents from casual dining restaurants hope to achieve a significantly greater benefit in enhancing customer experience (60%) compared to those in the quick service, fast casual and café segments (48%).
• Regionally, differences arose. When looking at AI's potential to enable a more positive customer experience, respondents in the U.S. and Europe are more optimistic than their counterparts in Asia (62% of U.S. and 59% of European respondents noted it as a top three benefit, compared to 42% in Asia). Meanwhile, respondents from Asia were the only group to cite automation/augmentation of restaurant labor as their top three hoped-for benefits (25%).

Adoption is expected to come in waves
Many respondents have already integrated AI into their day-to-day activities in various capacities. It may not be surprising that customer experience is leading the way given AI's prevalence across the consumer landscape, such as in-app or in-kiosk recommendation engines.

• Both brand and operators surveyed report that their AI investments are generating a high impact today in customer experience (52% of brands, 84% of operators) and inventory management (35% and 25%), among other areas.
• Sixty-three percent of respondents report daily use of AI in aiding the customer experience, the most common use case. Another 26% say they are engaged in customer experience pilots or other forms of limited implementation. 
• The second most-common use case is inventory management, 55% of those surveyed cite using AI in that process on a daily basis; another 25% say they are testing out such applications.
• While customer experience and inventory management represent the first wave of AI adoption, survey responses indicate that a second wave of AI deployment is focused on boosting customer loyalty and enhancing employee experience. Implementation hovers near 70% for these two opportunity areas (including daily use and pilots) but report planning activities indicate those numbers could soon rise.
• A third wave includes leveraging AI in food preparation and new product development. Both applications are being used or tested in these areas by half or less of respondents today, but they also boast the highest readings when it comes to planning and development.
• According to respondents, one of the more emerging examples is the use of voice AI in drive-thrus to automate the order-taking process.  

Restaurants using AI still have multiple challenges to overcome
Across the commercial spectrum, companies that have adopted AI at some level report a range of challenges.

• Managing risk around AI technology and identifying use cases tied for the top concern for organizations (48%), closely followed by lack of talent or technical skills (45%).
• When considering the risks related to AI implementation, intellectual property issues (20%) and misuse of client/customer data (16%) were cited most often by those surveyed.
• What doesn't worry surveyed restaurant leaders may be just as noteworthy: Companies are not concerned with lack of executive commitment (only 20% of respondents said it's holding them back), choosing the right technologies (29%), or by computing infrastructure or data (31%). This suggests that restaurant executives have moved past getting leadership buy-in for AI investments and are focused on more practical considerations such as picking the right applications and finding the people to support them.

Overall AI readiness remains in the prep stage
As their plans unfold for future AI deployments, some restaurant executives say their organizations may not have foundational elements in place to scale. 

• Strategy is the only area where most respondents say their companies are "highly" prepared, although almost 40% say they don't feel they have a strong strategy in place.
• Twenty-one percent of respondents across all segments and geographies believe they have the risk and governance in place to shepherd AI investments to fruition. Meanwhile, 29% say their organizations are prepared in terms of technology infrastructure, and 27% say they are prepared in terms of talent.
• Readiness for AI adoption varies between brands and operators. Operators report being more prepared across strategy and operations. Brands, meanwhile, have the edge in technology infrastructure readiness. Both groups have relatively low levels of confidence and readiness in terms of talent and risk and governance.

Key quote
"As the restaurant industry appears to increasingly embraces AI, the journey to full-scale transformation is still a work in progress. Leveraging AI to create personalized experiences and deeper connections with consumers can be an effective strategy. However, to unlock AI's potential, leaders will likely need to balance innovation and operational discipline, strengthen governance, and address capability gaps to help optimize operations, boost margins and future-proof their business — in both the front and back of house."

—  Evert Gruyaert, restaurants and food service industry leader, Deloitte

The Deloitte report, "How AI is Revolutionizing Restaurants," is based on a survey of 375 global restaurant executives in 11 countries fielded during Q4 2024 (October – November 2024). For the purposes of this study, we defined "operators" as those whose organization owns franchise operations for one or more brands, owns a license for a brand in the market, or is from an operating group with restaurants under one or more brands.

About Deloitte
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SOURCE Deloitte